Lux Draw vs Doodle
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Lux Draw
Create unique art with light-inspired tools and gritty textures. Draw from scratch or enhance photos with glow pens and special effects. Offers advanced features like HDR brushes and Apple Pencil support for a professional artistic experience.
- Live-calculated HDR brushes
- Glow Pen, Hot Pen, Light Spheres
- Gritty paper/canvas textures
- Smear tool for flame art
- Apple Pencil support
- Multiple layers
- Photo tracing mode (Pro)
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Draw with light-inspired tools, for a unique art style! Create a drawing from scratch, or add effects to your photos. Let your creativity run wild! • LIVE-CALCULATED HDR BRUSHES • The app features live-calculated brushes and strokes, that together with HDR values make it feel like drawing with light! Drawing tools include Glow Pen, Hot Pen, Light Spheres, and more. Tip: Use the Smear tool on a photo or drawing to achieve immensely cool flame art (seriously, try it!). • GRITTY PAPER/CANVAS TEXTURES • Having a paper/canvas texture interacting in real-time with the drawing tools will give your artwork a satisfying, gritty look. You can remove or change the default-generated texture to something else. • UNIVERSAL PURCHASE • If you choose to buy the Pro upgrade, this one-time in-app purchase will unlock all Pro features in the app on all available platforms (iPad-iPhone-Mac)! • METAL • The engine is based on Metal, with 128-bit color and floating-point arithmetic. • SWIFT • The app was developed entirely using Swift (earlier versions used C++). • FINGERTIP = STROKE SIZE • CHANGE SIZE/FORCE/COLOR WHILE DRAWING • • APPLE PENCIL SUPPORT • FULL SCREEN DRAWING • SEAMLESS PATTERN EDITING MODE • • DARK MODE • LANDSCAPE • PORTRAIT • WIDE COLOR • • MULTIPLE LAYERS • PHOTO TRACING MODE (Pro feature) •
Doodle
Unleash your creativity with a simple yet powerful drawing application. Sketch, paint, and color on a blank canvas, perfect for quick ideas or detailed artwork. Save your creations with an optional subscription for enhanced features.
- Blank canvas for drawing
- Variety of drawing tools and colors
- Undo functionality
- Image sharing
- Apple Pencil support
- Cross-device compatibility
- Optional Pro subscription for advanced features
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A little color. A whole new world. Doodle is a drawing app for everyday imagination. Pick a tool, choose a color, and make a mark. A blank canvas can become a small world, a useful idea, or a few minutes of play. MAKE SOMETHING YOURS Draw a colorful scene. Sketch a chart to explain a thought. Draw a tic-tac-toe board and take turns making marks. Map a request and its reply. Practice a letter until it feels like your own. These are things you can draw, with room for your own ideas in between. KEEP IT SIMPLE Choose drawing tools and colors, undo a mark, and share an image of your work. On compatible iPad models, draw with touch or Apple Pencil. No account is required to start drawing. A CANVAS FOR YOUR DEVICE Draw on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Vision Pro. Each brings its own controls to the same simple idea: a place to draw. On Apple Vision Pro, Doodle is a two-dimensional canvas in an app window. A LITTLE MORE WITH DOODLE PRO An optional Doodle Pro subscription lets you save and reopen editable drawings, ask for confirmation before clearing, hide the tool picker, and choose your preferred light or dark appearance. App icon choices are also available on supported devices. Drawing and image sharing do not require a Pro subscription. Pro is available as a monthly or yearly auto-renewing subscription. The price and any eligible offer are shown before you subscribe. Subscriptions renew automatically unless you cancel. Manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings. One mark is a good place to start. Privacy Policy: https://doodle.app/privacy Terms of Use: https://doodle.app/terms
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is ratings volume: Doodle at 46K against Lux Draw's 939. Lux Draw's advantage is rating (4.7 vs 4.5) and review sentiment (82% vs 67%). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Lux Draw sells 6 one-off in-app purchases and Doodle sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Lux Draw holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Doodle has 46K ratings behind it against 939, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 82% of Lux Draw's written reviews are positive against 67% of Doodle's.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 6, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Lux Draw | Doodle |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (939 ratings) — better | 4.5 (46K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 81.5% of reviews — better | 67.2% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 939 | 46K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac | iPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 155 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Norbyte | Joe Blau |
Customer experience
Lux Draw
Doodle
User reviews
Lux Draw
From 939 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Excellent entertainment value
- 👍 Creative drawing tools
- 👍 No ads, totally free
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 Variety of brushes and colors
Room to improve
- 🐛 Occasional glitches and freezing issues
- 🐛 Compatibility issues with certain devices/platforms
- 🔧 Limited functionality compared to other drawing apps
- 🔧 Lack of advanced features like fill tool, shapes, and text
- 🔧 Difficulty using with mouse/trackpad on laptops
Doodle
From 46K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Easy to use
- 👍 No ads
- 👍 Allows creativity
- 👍 Good for quick sketches
- 👍 Works with Apple Pencil
Room to improve
- 🐛 Accidental deletion of drawings
- 🐛 Disappearing toolbar
- 🐛 Lack of save/export options
- 🐛 Crashes and loss of progress
- 🐛 Limited drawing tools
Bugs and requests
Lux Draw
Reported bugs
3 issues- Freezing and unresponsiveness when switching tools
- Leaving unwanted color dots when erasing
- Compatibility issues with certain devices
Requested features
5 requests- Add fill tool, shapes, and text capabilities
- Improve compatibility with tablets and styluses
- Provide more customization options for brushes and colors
- Implement undo/redo functionality
- Add ability to export/share drawings easily
Doodle
Reported bugs
3 issues- Drawings disappear after app closes
- Toolbar disappears during screen recording
- Inability to zoom in/out properly
Requested features
5 requests- Add undo/redo functionality
- Implement auto-save feature
- Provide more drawing tools and customization options
- Allow changing background color
- Add ability to import/export drawings
In-app purchases
Lux Draw
- Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
- Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
- Pro Upgrade$5.00
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- Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
- Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
- Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
Doodle
- Doodle Pro: Monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
- Doodle Pro: Yearly$19.991 Year








